Little Victories
by SoulOfAFangirl684
Summary: In all the time that she's known him, she's never seen his wrists. (Warnings for discussions of Self-harm and Suicide.)


**I've gotten inspiration to write so many Naruto one-shots lately… All I'm short on is time to actually write them. This one takes place post-Shippuden, while Sakura is traveling with Sasuke.**

**I'll have added it in the summary, but I'll warn again here: This one-shot contains discussions of self-harm and suicide. Read at your own risk.**

**Little Victories**

Sakura let her head thump back against the tree behind her, her exhale the loudest sound for at least a mile. They were in a sparser section of the forest. She suspected they were nearing the Wind country's border. Their current location wasn't the total wasteland she usually associated with the desert outskirts, but there were other, smaller giveaways. The temperature had slowly been creeping up all day, and fewer and fewer animals could be spotted as they continued in this direction.

There was no real plan, as far as she knew. Maybe they'd pass through Suna, maybe they'd change course on a whim. An awful lot of freedom came with wandering.

Sasuke had left her to bathe in a nearby stream. Her own hair was still damp. They'd both felt this might be the last source of fresh water they'd see for a while. It might sound strange, as even this calmer version of Sasuke wasn't exactly talkative, (Their conversations had grown to be comfortable but not plentiful.) but it was a little unsettling to be left so completely alone with her thoughts.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd had no schedule to speak of—no mission reports to write up, no one waiting on her at the hospital with some medical emergency… Nothing. It was liberating at first, but she wasn't sure she'd want to drift like this indefinitely. This dizzying feeling of being untethered… She supposed it was just another aspect of Sasuke's penance. The thought made her heart ache.

This pain was an automatic response to Sasuke Uchiha suffering in any way. That was one thing that had not changed since their younger days. Once upon a time, she'd been proud to think she was able to empathize with him. As he'd fallen deeper and deeper into the darkness, it was like a piece of that darkness had taken route in her core, flaring up to weigh down her spirits any time her thoughts lingered on her old team mate. Somehow, watching the rest of her classmates push him away only drew her in closer. Even Ino had been able to steel herself enough to let go of the old infatuation she once would have fought off an army for.

In the eyes of her friends, Sakura Haruno had gone from being a mindless little fangirl to a valued team mate capable of holding her own on the battlefield. And to many—perhaps _all_ but Naruto and Kakashi—her feelings for Sasuke were the one thing they had to overlook to avoid losing respect for her entirely.

Was it a weakness? She wasn't sure anymore. At one point, she'd hated _herself_ for continuing to feel for him. But being conflicted about it had never diminished that love enough to ignore it, so she'd learned to live with her feelings. And now…

She'd like to believe they'd come full circle—that trying to empathize with Sasuke could once more be a positive thing. And sometimes, when they stayed up talking late at night, when she got to see those genuine smiles he'd tried so hard to scrub from existence… There was no doubt in her mind that it was worth it.

But then, it was easier when they were out here on their own like this. The atmosphere would shift once she was back in the village.

"A traitor with a conscience and a lovestruck fool," she'd heard Karui scoff one day, unaware of her presence just around the corner. "I guess that's a perfect match to _someone_."

Choji had quickly, awkwardly, stuffed another handful of chips into his mouth, excusing himself from a verbal response. Shikamaru had grumbled something she couldn't make out, far from coming to their defense she was sure. She did her best to take a page out of Sasuke's book and make peace with the fact that there were some who might never forgive him.

Speaking of…

She'd closed her eyes while lost in thought, but they popped back open at Sasuke's soft footsteps. All was still as he walked into sight, his uncovered eye zeroing in on her immediately. Once upon a time, she would have jumped to her feet to greet him. Now, Sakura let him come to her.

She could tell from a glance that his hair was still wet, and he stopped to hang his shirt and cloak on a tree branch nearby, leaving him bare from the waist up.

"It's starting to cool off," she commented, motioning for him to come closer. She pushed herself away from the tree just enough for Sasuke to slide in behind her, leaving her own traveling cloak where it was to shield his back from the rough tree bark.

Once again, she couldn't help thinking in 'once upon a times.' She had to smirk a little, knowing her younger self would have fainted dead away at the mere thought of being physically supported by a shirtless Sasuke.

A moment like this one was so small in the overall scope of their relationship… There were so many things twelve-year-old Sakura never would have been able to comprehend. She glanced down to one side, where her hand was still steadied against the ground, despite the way she was leaning into her companion. On this same side, Sasuke's own arm ended abruptly. They'd all given up trying to convince him to let Lady Tsunade craft him a new one. And she had to admit, he seemed to be getting along just fine.

Her gaze swung to their other side, and for a second, it was like everything stopped. She wasn't frozen in shock or horror. Sakura was detached in a clinical sort of way as she took in the long scar slashed down Sasuke's inner wrist.

She felt another little ache in her heart that, honestly, she wasn't surprised. She'd seen enough of Sasuke's ups and downs throughout the years to expect that he would have hit this low, at some point. She was just curious about _what_ point this had been. Sakura ran through her mental database of Sasuke and realized… that in all the time she'd known him, she'd never before seen his wrists. As a child, he'd favored long sleeves. Past that, all those arm bands over the years suddenly seemed a little more purposeful. She was sure that, when he'd had both arms fully, his other wrist had sported an identical scar.

There was silence between them, but she knew he must be aware of where her focus had settled. And she wasn't about to pretend otherwise. Sakura slid one finger gingerly down the length of the scar, but still said nothing.

When Sasuke spoke, his tone was a little vague, but she didn't detect any ire. "You took it better than Kakashi did."

Somehow, she found she could picture this too… their former sensei coming across these distinctive wounds… perhaps while they were off training together before the chunin exams… struggling to get ahold of the panic in his voice as he confronted the boy. "…Did you know his father committed suicide?"

"No… I didn't." The atmosphere didn't change drastically once the word had been spoken aloud. Perhaps they'd talk one day about how depressingly easy it had become for her to discuss such topics. She and Ino had really taken the village's mental health system and procedures to task since the war's end. (Meanwhile, Naruto, Shikamaru, and _Kabuto _of all people had been working to reform the orphanages. It truly was a new era.) She didn't want to get into how many _children_ she'd encountered who'd taken to cutting themselves open just for the numbness, the adrenaline rush, the stress relief… There were too many reasons to count. In the past, no one would have even tried to understand. They would have been sent away… shamed into hiding it better.

Even so, she hadn't grown _completely_ immune to the sight. A part of her was relieved to only see the single mark, rather than skin so crisscrossed there was barely an inch left unmarred. Another part of her was quick to wince at the observation that he'd cut vertically so as to open up as much of the vein as possible and bleed out more quickly. She decided her medical expertise on the subject didn't need to be commented on.

"Do I need to worry about _when_ this happened?" was all she ended up asking.

Sakura didn't move to look at him directly, but she thought she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head. "No… It was right after the massacre, while I was still in the hospital. The nurse stepped out and I broke a vase of flowers someone had left me… When I woke up again, I was under 24-hour monitoring. I was forced to find some other way to deal with the memories, so I channeled it all into anger and hatred..."

He didn't need to say anymore. They'd all seen how that had worked out for him.

They expressed so much through silence these days. It was impossibly far from the heartfelt, romantic speeches she'd once imagined, but she was glad for it.

Sakura brought his arm up to her face, pressing a kiss to that lingering reminder of darker times. Then she moved her lips up to a spot closer to the base of his palm, pressing down hard enough until she could feel the steady beat of his pulse, silently thanking whichever nurse had saved him that day. Finally, she twisted around and pressed a kiss to his forehead, lifting up his hair enough to see his mismatched eyes. Another reminder of how much had changed.

Sasuke made no move to resist and voiced no protests. If anything, he leaned into her affection—something they'd been making progress with one little victory at a time.

Little victories that combined to allow for moments like this one. Little victories that made up their whole.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto. **

**This is an idea I've had in my head for nearly the entirety of my time as a Naruto fan. I believe before I even knew Sasuke's backstory—his general disposition was just so… troubled. I think procrastination saved the day this time. I'm glad I didn't get this written until I knew about this time in their lives. I really do like where Naruto leaves (most of) the characters at the end.**


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